Half A Fool
by elgeonmb
Summary: Two young people come to the bizarre and many-faceted city of Suitai-no-Tachi. These nascent Wild Cards, as part of with the anti-Shadow group YUME, must unravel the bizarre dream logic of the city to save its inhabitants from the Shadows. Not all trials can be fought head-on, and YUME will come face-to-face with secrets best left hidden in their quest for a better world for all.
1. Chapter One:April Sixth

The sound of hooves on stone echoed. The world appeared as it would with a sackcloth of velvet over the young boy's head. It came into resolution so slowly, and the young boy felt drunk, addled. He came to realize that there was a man with a tremendous nose in front of him. That man spoke, and the young boy was able to catch only the tail end of the statement.  
"Velvet Room."

The man spoke again, and the young boy made sure to pay attention. "It seems that an extremely unusual set of circumstances now surrounds you. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a place where only those who have- ah, but you have not signed a contract yourself, have you?"

"N-no," the young boy said without thought.

"And yet, someone has signed it for you. Perhaps this is for the best– the will of the heart and the will of the mind often differ. This contract, then, is something you truly desire– whether you think so or not," the man remarked.

"Someone... what?" the young boy said, the disorientation fading.

"It is your fate to determine a great truth for all mankind. I will be here to assist. I ask only that you agree to the terms of the contract which your heart has signed- that you take responsibility for your own actions."

"I..." the young boy said. A thousand different questions boiled inside of him and stilled his tongue.

"Our time here grows brief. We will meet again," promised the man with the long nose.

And then that world was not.

"Nobuyuki you absolute asshole, wake up!" said a voice Nobuyuki knew better than anyone's. "We're going to be late!"

Nobuyuki kept his eyes closed anyway. He was so sleepy, and something about the dream still stuck with him. It was bizarre and he didn't understand it and–

He felt a red hot stinging in his face and heard a terrible slapping sound.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" he said, throwing his eyes open. His sister was standing in front of him, the handles of their suitcases in one hand and her other hand right where the stinging came from. "Sachi, you don't need to slap me awake."

"Apparently, I do! What happens when we miss our connection, huh?"

"We're screwed, I guess," he said, shrugging.

"You're hopeless. Come on, get your things– we have to take the monorail to Granny's house," she said, rolling his suitcase over to him. He stood up and pulled at the handle experimentally. It felt decidedly heavier than when he had left his home for what his parents had called "a change of pace", and it would be just like his red-headed devil of a sister to put her things in his suitcase and not tell him. He could hardly voice his suspicions, though, because she was already bolting to the exit of the train. He shook his head and followed after her, the weight of the luggage tearing at his shoulder.

Nobuyuki was briefly rendered speechless when he stepped out of the train and into the vastness of what his map called Tower Six. It glittered in the harsh florescent lights and the bright red neon from the food vendors scattered along the mall-like interior. Crowds of people exited and entered the train, or shopped along the storefronts, or came and went through the vast bulk of the complex. Tower Six did its best to make a good impression of the wealth and opulence of Sutai-no-Toshi, as the primary means of entrance and one of the largest of the twelve Tower buildings. He trembled slightly even to think that he would be living in such a bright, busy place, after spending so long in the same quiet suburb, and dearly wished to go back home. He caught sight of Sachi at the counter of a Greek place and clicked his tongue in irritation. As she got her food and departed, he dashed forwards to catch up to her.

"What happened to 'being late'?" he asked, scowling. She swallowed half a kebab and chewed noisily as she responded.

"Hey, we all need to eat, dingus."

"We all need sleep, too."

"Not as much as you do. C'mon! If you stay asleep forever you're going to miss out on the good stuff!" Sachi replied, dashing off further inside the complex, stopping only briefly to toss her trash in a nearby bin.

"Mall food is 'the good stuff' now?" he called towards her.

"Of course!" she laughed. With a roll of his eyes and a grit of his teeth, he followed after her, past crowds and past shops into a great, round elevator platform. The gleaming, stainless steel doors opened, allowing Sachi to enter and Nobuyuki to squeeze in alongside her. The elevator moved briskly,the levels and levels of the mall blurring by and giving Nobuyuki a distinct sense of vertigo. Sachi didn't seem to mind, pressing her face to the glass to look at the colorful streaks made on the windows by the passing lights, grinning all the while. It stopped with a sickening lurch, and the bustle of people assembled in the elevator platform oozed out, mixing only for a moment with the people entering like oil bubbled through water. Nobuyuki had only taken a few steps from the elevator when he had to stop, because there was something truly incredible in front of him.

The monorail station was like something out of a dream. Perched near the top of the tower, it seemed like it might fall at any moment. The rail, however, stretched proudly between Tower Six and the next, defying gravity. He could see it stretched out, high above the city, going on until it faded from view like a mountain lost in mist. Then, with a blast of wind, a train arrived, sleek and quick and stopping on a dime. He shook himself out of his trance and hurried towards it.

"This is the counterclockwise train, so we need to get on it unless you wanna take the scenic route," Sachi said as they met up near the entrance to the train.

"You? Not taking the scenic route?" Nobuyuki asked.

"Ha ha, very funny. There'll be time for looking around later– I'm excited to meet Granny," Sachi said, grabbing her stuff and storing it overhead, and then turning to him. "Need help with your baggage?"

"Sure, why not," Nobuyuki said. He wasn't weak, but he wasn't going to do any more lifting than was necessary. Sachi took his bags and stowed them too, just as a thought occurred to him. "Hey, uh, didn't you meet her in that one family reunion?"  
"Nah," Sachi said, "I had food poisoning. Remember?"

Although it had slipped his mind to begin with, Nobuyuki dimly recalled Sachi's absence for his one meeting with their great-aunt Atsuko (called Granny for convenience's sake). It had been a dismal party and Nobuyuki had wished that he had had food poisoning too. The faces he was supposed to recognize, the stories he was supposed to care about- and all of it taking time away from his Sunday routine.

"You're not worried about it, at all?" he asked.  
"Nah," she replied. "She's family. Can't be that bad."

The train moved underneath them and they dove for their seats. It took off like a bullet, streaking along the curved path to Tower Five. After a brief moment of lurching as mechanical engineering overtook inertia, the ride seemed calm, only the rapidly moving cityscape outside the window giving indication that Nobuyuki was moving. He leaned over his sister to better try to see the buildings as they rushed past. Tower Five slowly came into sight, and he could see the urban sprawl below undulate, gleaming towers that nonetheless rose and fell in height as he passed over the different areas of the city. The humans were like tiny smears, and with the speed he was going automobiles held still. The cityscape then became tinted in a deep purple, the humans becoming even more indistinct and the buildings becoming cartoonish distortions of themselves, reaching higher and higher, undulating madly like a bed of cilia, Tower Five looming huge and horrifying like a vast crag, the tip of the tower seeming to brush the moon. He blinked and it returned to normal.

"W-what?" he sputtered . "What the hell was that?"

"Chill. You probably just feel asleep," Sachi said. "You're kinda out of it."  
"Right, right," Nobuyuki said. "My dreams have just... gotten a hell of a lot weirder than usual."  
"Tell me about it. Changes in scenery will do that. Give it a year and you'll be back to having that same stupid dream where all your teeth fall out."  
There came a chuckle from a man sitting directly behind them.

"Oh, like you've never had that dream before," Sachi said as she whirled around in her seat to face him. He kept chuckling, deep and hollow.

"Sachi, sit down," Nobuyuki hissed, grabbing her and pulling her down to her seat.

"Forgive me for standing up for us!" she said. The chuckling continued.

"Look, he's clearly... not all there," he said. He twisted around so he could see over his shoulder. The man sat alone, chuckling and chuckling and staring at his hands with a manic grin.

"Right," Sachi said quietly. There was a moment of queeziness and disorientation as the train stopped, and a brief moment of activity as some of the passengers exchanged themselves for those on the platform. Nobuyuki saw the chuckler being escorted gently off the train by two men in security uniforms.

"Poor guy," Sachi murmured. "Wonder whatever happened to him."

"It's a big city," Nobuyuki replied as the train took off again with another horrifying lurch. "I guess they've got their fair share of crazy people."  
"I guess," Sachi echoed. She stared listlessly out the window for a while, and Nobuyuki left her to her thoughts. Soon enough, the train stopped, hard, and they were in Tower Four.

"Alright, let's go!" Sachi chirped, her pensive reflection swept away in the gust of wind that accompanied a breaking monorail. She hopped up and grabbed their bags, darting out of the door before he could raise a word of protest, like she always did.

Tower Four was, if less flashy than Tower Six, certainly no less expensive. Tower Six was built for incoming traffic and was high in neon and monorail-themed snow globes. Tower Four was situated in a residential district, near Mono-no-Aware High, and so it was more common to see specialty stores, although there was still plenty of mall food. Sachi, amazingly, managed to avoid the mall food as she stepped into the elevator. The doors were closing by the time Nobuyuki shoved his way through, and it was with consternation that he was looked at by the accumulated crowd.

"Why are you always running?" Nobuyuki asked after catching his breath.

"It's faster than walking!" Sachi replied.

"It's exhausting!"

"For you, maybe. I'll try to slow down if you try to keep up?" Sachi proposed. Nobuyuki nodded slowly, and the doors chose that moment to release themselves, sending the crowd into a small lobby, through which the pair powerwalked until they were out in the deserted night streets.

Walking with Sachi Shinohara through an unfamiliar city was decidedly not a pleasant experience. Nobuyuki had a small map with the route to their Granny's house outlined in red. It was only a short distance, it was fairly straight, and it involved trafficking well lit main streets. Sachi demurred.

"But Yuki! I bet there's, like, a carton full of puppies in this one!" Sachi said as Nobuyuki kept her from slinking into yet another disused alleyway.

"Don't care."  
"Yuki! I think this one probably has a back-alley clinic!"  
"Why would you even want to go to that?"

"For the sake of adventure!"

"That's nice."

Sachi whirled around in place, leaning forward and invading Nobuyuki's personal space. "You're not any fun, Nobuyuki. This is exactly the kind of bullshit that got you sent here in the first place! 'I don't wanna study abroad,' and 'Osaka sounds like such a pain, I'll skip it' and never asking out any of your little crushes– when are you ever going to do anything new?"  
"Maybe I'll join a sports team," Nobuyuki said with a shrug. He kept walking. Sachi skipped after him with a scowl.  
"Not new enough! Like, right now– I bet I could climb up this fire escape and get over to Granny's in like, no time at all!"

"For the four hundredth time, I can't freerun, or, whatever you do."

"It's parcour, it's French, it's a sport, and who's fault is that? You sat around being boring while I learned to do that stuff!"

"I was taking kendo, like our parents told me to!" Nobuyuki shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "And so were you, until you dropped out to climb around on trashcans."

"It was boring, painful, and we both hated it. Then I learned parcour, and because of it, I've never been late to school once! What's kendo ever done for you?"

"I'll tell you what kendo is gonna do for me if you don't walk to Granny's house without dragging us somewhere stupid!"

"I–" Sachi said, but it was too late to mount a reply, because Granny's house was in view and it was time for her to have an adventure. It was a tiny, one-floor, old-fashioned dwelling with an old, rusty metal gate built into a short, encircling wall, nestled in between two large skyscrapers. Sachi's response was to leave all her bags with Nobuyuki on the sidewalk and jump over the wall to knock rapidly on the door. Nobuyuki opened the old gate with a sigh, and lugged all their bags to wait on the porch with his sister. The door swung open slowly, and a short, white-haired woman with her hair in a bun opened the door. She resembled Nobuyuki's sole faded memory of his Granny well enough that he decided it was probably her. Her face lit up when she saw the pair.

"Oh, Nobuyuki," she said with a wry smile. "I was so pleased when your father gave me that call. And..."

"Ehem. Sachi. Twin sister. Remember?" Sachi coughed.

"Oh, of course! How could I have forgotten!" Granny said with a chuckle, which Nobuyuki figured was better than whatever other reaction she might have given to her unexpected guest. "Come inside! I'm sure you're tuckered from all those train rides..."

"I am, but Yuki's probably not. Big baby slept the whole way!" Sachi said as she bounded inside.

"I'm fine," Nobuyuki muttered. The interior of the house was basically the exterior of the house in furniture form. Very traditional, very rustic, and very much a far cry from the neon lights of the Tower.

"Your room's down the hall. You'll have to share, of course," Granny said, her brow furrowed.

"Cool! Thanks Granny!" Sachi said. She raced down the hall as quickly as she could manage, which reminded Nobuyuki once more that he was still carrying her things. He sighed and trudged on after her.

"Oh!" Granny said after a moment, "don't call me Granny! I'm not that old! Call me Atsuko!"

"Sure thing, G-Atsuko!" Sachi called from their room. Nobuyuki opened the door tentatively and looked around. It was plain and sparsely furnished, with two small futons in opposite corners of the room and a tiny wooden dresser that would probably be unsuitable for anyone but the Shinohara twins, who had about six outfits between them. One boxy window opened out and up, facing the moon, and they could see the tops of far-off towers if they strained their eyes.

"School starts tomorrow, which is bullshit," Sachi remarked. She stood on her futon with a poster and a roll of tape, the origins of which Nobuyuki didn't bother trying to figure out.

"Yes, it does, and it's after midnight. We should be sleeping, Sachi," Nobuyuki said.

"I guess. You know, Nobuyuki, this... I don't know, whatever it is? Fear of the unknown? It can't last forever."

"Whatever," Nobuyuki said. He flopped on the futon for a second and was asleep again.


	2. Chapter Two:April Seventh

Chapter Two:April Eighth

At least he wasn't doing it alone.

"Pleased to meet you," Nobuyuki choked out. The eyes of his classmates burrowed into him like a thousand tiny drills, turning, twisting, prying into his innermost secrets. He urgently wanted to sit down.

"You may take the seat over there," his teacher, an incredibly old lady named Komori (personal name unknown) managed to croak out after a long few seconds of introspection. She gestured with a long, bony finger to an unoccupied seat near the far wall. He blinked. One of the occupants of an adjacent seat was a boy with startlingly white hair and a drastic inability to follow dress code, wearing a lavender hoodie over his collared shirt and with no tie to speak of. The girl sitting next to him was something else entirely.

"Yes, ma'am," Nobuyuki mumbled as he took his seat. The white-haired boy elbowed him but he ignored it as best he could. Nothing good would come from associating with him, Nobuyuki figured.

"And, of course, the second student of the day. Would you please introduce yourself?" Komori said. Sachi shuffled towards the front of the room, and Nobuyuki was glad that he had gone first. At least she wouldn't get to see him embarrass himself from a position of superiority. She looked down for a bit, remaining quite silent. Whispers flooded through the room, too indistinct for Nobuyuki to catch. She looked up, and her face was lined with fierce determination.

"The tradition of forcing transfer students to announce themselves in front of the entire class is antiquated and barbaric and I refuse to stand by it," she said firmly. Whispers rose to a boil, and Nobuyuki could catch fragments, most of which sounded close to "what the hell?"

"That's nice, dear," Komori said. "Take the seat behind Mister Shinohara, then." The whispers now sounded a lot like "even for her..."  
"'Ait," Sachi replied. She deposited herself behind him. He turned around in his seat to face her. She was grinning, like she always was whenever she did something stupid within visual range of Nobuyuki.

"Wow," he said with a roll of his eyes. She looked away from him and he followed her gaze to the white-haired boy. He was grinning too, the same grin, and Nobuyuki got the impression that it would be an extremely long year.

"Nicely done there! Pretty ballsy– did you know Komori-sensei was nine-tenths senile before you said that stuff?" the boy asked.

"No, I kinda figured I'd get kicked out of class. It worked out, though!" Sachi said.

"No kidding? Heh, that's what 'panache' is," he remarked. His brows furrowed and his grin faded slightly. He turned to the girl next to him and said, "Hey, Ren, did you hear me?"

"I heard you, Takumi," she replied. She continued facing the wall, where it appeared that Komori was attempting to give a lecture on something Nobuyuki could hardly make out. Her voice was quiet, her handwriting terrible, and she was teaching English, which Nobuyuki could barely manage in the first place.

"Okay, yeah, and?" the boy called Takumi said.

"I'm blind, Takumi, not an idiot. I know what panache is, I just don't know what it looks like," she said quietly. "Speaking of which..."

Takumi jumped. "Right. Shinohara-kun's, uh, brown hair, neat uniform, looks like he made a face that froze that way. Crazy girl's red hair, long, no jacket, and I don't know where the hell she got that bowtie from but I like it."

Nobuyuki's frown only deepened at his description. "I can make other expressions, but not in English class," he remarked. He gave up on the lesson and turned sideways in his seat, facing the bizarre pair. Ren's blindness provided a pretty good explanation for her appearance, if she dressed herself, and also had a fear of cold weather or something of the sort. It was April and she was dressed for a blizzard. A huge, fluffy white scarf concealed most of her face and neck, her jacket was tightly fastened and she for some indeterminate reason wore a coat over it, and she was wearing sunglasses indoors. Nobuyuki felt a tiny twinge of shame at having dismissed her appearance so quickly before learning that there was a half-decent reason for it. Then again, there was absolutely nothing excusing the pink hair.

"Oh, I'm his sister," Sachi responded. "Sachi. Nobody's called me 'Crazy Girl' since elementary school."

"Nice to meetcha. I'm Takumi Isogai–"

"–and I'm Ren Sasaki. I'm blind, and this is my seeing-eye boyfriend. As questionable of a job as he does," Ren interrupted. Nobuyuki couldn't quite see her face from where he sat, since she didn't seem to value looking at people who were talking to her, but he thought he saw the hint of a grin on her profile.

"Hey! I'm an artist– I'm pretty great at describing stuff, Ren," Takumi replied indignantly.

"I meant the boyfriend part, obviously."  
"Then– wait, hold on!"

Sachi began to laugh a loud, pealing laugh. Nobuyuki twisted around and stared with one brow cocked as she descended deeper into a fit of hysterics. While the teacher, as was apparently the standard, acted as though she felt nothing of importance was happening, Sachi's antics drew a few glances from across the room.

"Ah, I'm okay, I'm okay," Sachi said at length, coughing. Takumi grinned.

"Finally, someone who understands our humor, right Ren?" he asked.

"Someone who understands your humor. I'm actually funny," she replied.

"Come on, don't do the straight-man routine right now!"

"Fine. I think you're funny, but anyone who says otherwise is probably right."  
"I'll take your opinion over a hundred other guys', Ren," Takumi replied. Nobuyuki rolled his eyes.

There came a slow chuckle, and Nobuyuki glanced in its direction. It came from a slight, plain girl who sat in a corner. She was staring at her hands and laughing slowly, and a deep dread pooled in Nobuyuki's stomach. The chuckle became louder and louder and more violent until it was a roar, a desperate pained shriek twisted into a grin, echoing through the classroom and drowning out sentence structure in a wave. The teacher actually seemed to take notice, dialing a number on her phone with her skeletal fingers, and then the room was quiet except for the roar. Most students looked unnerved, but strangely used to it. Many plugged their ears. Ren put on large white earphones. Nobuyuki looked over at Sachi.

Sachi was staring at the girl with an expression of utter horror, the color drained from that familiar face, her eyes misting over, and her jaw slack. He put a hand on his sister's shoulder quietly, but she seemed numb to it. A well-dressed boy came in through the door and took the laughing girl by the arm, escorting her out. A moment later, Komori-sensei cleared her throat and turned back to the board, fingers came out of ears, Takumi took off Ren's earphone and she stowed them in a coat pocket, and class progressed.

"What the ever-loving fuck was that?" Sachi asked at once.

"The laughing thing? The doctors are calling it Sudden Amygdaloid Dysfunction, I think, but mostly we just call it The Giggles. SAD is too ironic a name for it," Ren said.

"Yeah, it's pretty creepy. Hits the nervous, twitchy, overworked kind of kids– you know, the ones with seven clubs and eight sports? I guess adults too, but mostly we just hear about the kids," Takumi added.

"Good thing, too– Takumi will never need to worry about it," Ren said.

"Ouch, Ren. I do okay!"

"Sure. You're my ride home, so I might as well indulge you."

"...This is normal?" Sachi asked in a low, strained voice.

"Sorta– been going on for a while now, I guess," Takumi replied.

"What happens after that?" Nobuyuki added suddenly.

"There's a whole wing of the hospital dedicated to studying them, and I guess caring for them. They seem pretty happy, if that's any consolation," Ren replied.

"I guess," said Nobuyuki, his brows lowered. Sachi gritted her teeth but said nothing. There was a quiet, awkward moment, before Takumi broke the silence again.

"Hey, did you guys hear that Bliss is doing yet another album?" he asked.

"Who?" asked Nobuyuki.

"How have you never heard of Bliss? It's the hottest craze here!"

"I guess down south we don't, uh, do whatever that is."

"Bliss is the worst, most indescribably bad idol group that has ever risen from a cankered sore on the ass of Sutai-no-Toshi," Ren said without preamble.

"...why?" Nobuyuki asked.

"They're so–"

"–Pink. They're indescribably pink,"

"They're sweet like warm caramel poured down your throat through a funnel," Ren continued, ignoring Takumi's contribution.

"Why does everyone like them, then?" Nobuyuki asked.

"I have no idea, but don't talk about them to anyone wearing a pink wristband. That's kind of their dumb little fan signal," said Takumi. Nobuyuki quickly glanced around. Aside from Ren, Takumi, himself, Sachi, and two or three other kids, every single person in the room was wearing a pink wristband. Even their teacher wore one loose on her ancient, withered arm.

"...Wow," he said after a moment. "Maybe they're actually good."  
"Ren, you have one of their albums, right?" Takumi asked.

"Yes. Pirated, of course," Ren said. She took a small music player out of her coat, with a pair of earbuds dangling from a cord. "Listen."  
Nobuyuki and Sachi each put in one earbud, and Takumi obligingly pulled up Bliss' album. There was a long lull, as they listened. And then Sachi spoke.

"Let's kill them. We'll get caught, but it's the right thing to do. We would be martyrs," she said quickly as their first song, saccharine and about nothing in particular, finished. Nobuyuki found it strangely enjoyable, but decided to keep it to himself.

"That's what I've always said!" Ren said.


	3. Chapter Three:April Ninth

A gray scooter painted with stars in a decidedly Impressionist style zoomed past Nobuyuki and Sachi as they walked to school, familiar pink hair trailing behind. It swung a loop, and then decidedly familiar white hair was zooming towards them. It braked inches before impact with Sachi.

"Yo," Takumi said. He tapped the girl behind him on the shoulder. "Ren, it's Nobuyuki-kun and Sachi-chan."  
"Hey, guys," she said.

"You know," Takumi said, glancing over their tiny house, "in the center of the city it's all little houses like this. Rim's not really supposed to have anything but skyscrapers, though."

"Maybe Granny didn't want to sell her house to developers or something," Sachi said.

"Maybe, but–" Takumi said. He was interrupted by the tremendous sound of a dozen or so shouting juvenile delinquents beating a path through a nearby alley, chasing after a pair of figures that dashed across the street and into another alley before Nobuyuki could make out much about them. Sachi tensed and took off, running towards the commotion.

"Sachi! You'll be late!" Nobuyuki shouted after her rapidly diminishing form.

"Don't care!" she called back.

"People will think you're a delinquent!"  
"Cool!"  
"She's hopeless," Nobuyuki said. "I'm following her. Wanna come with?"

"I don't have a death wish, Nobuyuki-kun," Takumi said. "But if you do, that's cool! See you at school!"  
And then Nobuyuki was after her, chasing after his sister on reluctant legs. Sachi and the delinquents rounded the corner of the alley a little while before Nobuyuki did. As he was turning the corner, he was viciously jostled and bumped by the rapidly-retreating crowd of delinquents, who were intermittently swearing vengeance and screaming in terror. At the far end of the dark and grimy alley stood a tall boy in a denim jacket and an even taller girl with reddish-brown hair tied in a long braid. Also present were one motorcycle and Sachi Shinohara, who was talking to them animatedly.

"What," Nobuyuki choked out as loud as he could. It came out a dull, small sound.

"Oh, hey, this is my brother Nobuyuki. He's a bit of a futz," Sachi said.

"Hey ya!" the girl said. "I'm Yuzuki Itagaki. He's Kuzuo Sakane. It's nice to meet you!"

"Motorcycle," Nobuyuki said in that same tiny voice. He stumbled towards the group slowly.

"We were just talking to your sister," Kuzuo said. "She's, apparently, pretty impressed. Ever considered becoming a delinquent?"

"Yes," Sachi said without any extra thought. Nobuyuki's knees weakened and he fell.

"Goddamn 'adventure' bullshit, Sachi," he muttered from his place on the floor.

"Well, if you ever decide to drop out of school, or whatever, hit us up!" Kuzuo said, ignoring him.

"Oh, hey," Yuzuki said, "You guys are students at Mono-no-Aware, right? I couldn't tell with just Sachi, but you're, you know, actually wearing the uniform."

"Yup," Sachi replied. "Just transferred.  
' "Oh, badass," Kuzuo said. "We went there up until graduation last year. 'Parently, we've got a reputation over there. Try asking around about us!"

The boy took his motorcycle from where it leaned against the far wall and stood it up, getting on with practiced ease. Yuzuki got on behind him, hands on his shoulders. "Don't be late for your second day of school, squirts!" she said as the motorcycle roared to life with a terrific and horrifying sound like an entire arsenal being fired off at once, and then it careened out the alley, took a sharp turn, and disappeared.

"Pretty cool guys, huh?" Sachi said conversationally. A long, pregnant silence filled the air

"What the hell, Sachi?" Nobuyuki shouted all of a sudden. Sachi started and looked up.

"Hey, there was a motorcycle!"

"We're going to be late!" Nobuyuki said.

"Pfft, maybe you will." Sachi very casually scampered up a drainage pipe and pulled along windowsills until she towered over Nobuyuki.

"But look at it this way– you had an adventure! How many of those do you think you had back home, huh?" she shouted down before shimmying around the corner of the building and losing Nobuyuki. Nobuyuki shouted in impotent rage and began to jog to class.


	4. Chapter Four:April Ninth

"I hope you've learned the value of punctuality, young man," said Komori.

"Yes, ma'am," Nobuyuki said wearily. His arms felt like leather belts, dangling from his shoulders uselessly.

"Good," said Komori, "That sounded quite sincere. Tell me, do you think your life has been improved through having to serve this detention?"  
Oh, one of these teachers. Nobuyuki groaned internally. "Yes," he said. It sounded expected of him.

"Oh? But surely, you'd rather be out there, playing your games and reading your comics, or whatever it is youngsters nowadays do?"

"Yes, ma'am," Nobuyuki said.

"Would that have improved your life too?" Komori asked. Nobuyuki wanted to scream. The whole line of inquiry was inane.

"Yes, ma'am," Nobuyuki said. "Err, no, ma'am. Not as much as this detention, ma'am."  
"What a response," Komori said with a chuckle. "Tell me– why do you think this detention was so enriching? I don't think you found it pleasant."  
"No, ma'am."  
"I don't think you'd like to repeat it."  
"No, ma'am."  
"Then what is it about this detention, beyond whatever else you might do with your time, that made it worthwhile?"

Nobuyuki winced. "I don't know, ma'am. I guess, I'll never be late again? Or, it's made me a better person?" he guessed. Something along those lines, at least.  
Komori looked at him like he had swallowed a bug. "So you won't," she said at last. "Dismissed!"


	5. Chapter Five: April Ninth

"Hey, Shinohara-kun," Ren said as the clock ticked down the minutes before they would be free. "So, I heard that Komori-sensei has it out for you."

"Shut up, Renchi," Nobuyuki said. He rested his head on the table and did not look at her.

"She's usually not like that at all," she said. "She's usually so–"  
"–chill," Takumi finished. "I don't think anyone's ever gotten detention with her, and last year this one kid brought firecrackers to class. We would have warned you harder if it wasn't her, ya know."

"I don't want to talk about it," Nobuyuki said again.

"Guys, I think you should probably let this rest," Sachi said. "Even I couldn't get him to say anything about it, and I'm not above putting his hand in a cup of warm water while he sleeps if he doesn't give me information."

"Alright, you're the boss, Sachi-chan," Takumi replied. "Still, it's kind of amazing he's still alive!"

"He must have deep reserves of inner strength," Ren mused. The bell rang as she spoke. "Anyway, it's go time. Takumi, I'm buying dinner today."  
"And I'll read the menus," Takumi said. They quietly excused themselves, Ren grabbing Takumi's arm as they made their way out of the school.

"Let's go, Yuki," Sachi said, tugging at Nobuyuki's jacket sleeve.

"You go, I'll catch up," he said.

"Alright, but if you don't stop this zombie act soon, I'm going to be pretty pissed," Sachi said. She dashed off, and Nobuyuki was allowed to wallow in misery for a good twelve seconds.

"Shinohara-san," said an unfamiliar voice, curt and female. Nobuyuki brought his head up and squinted at her. She had short brown hair and wore her uniform completely correctly. Her lips curled upwards in a sneer and already he knew that nothing good would come of their interaction.

"Yes?" he asked slowly, blinking slowly.

"Disgraceful. I see you're still soaking up attention for your antics on Wednesday," she said. Nobuyuki blinked back dumbly.

"Worthless. I hear, too, that you've been associating with Kuzuo Sakane and Yuzuki Itagaki. I hope for your sake that your association is a brief one. In their time here, they spent well over a hundred hours in detention, and judging by Wednesday I don't think you'd like a repeat."

"Not really," Nobuyuki said. He wanted nothing more than her to leave him alone.

"Right. I can tell by your bearing that you're inclined to join the "go home" club. Don't, if you don't want to end up like Sakane and Itagaki. Your actions here reflect upon the school's prestige, and I would dearly hate it if you made a mockery of what this institution stands for."  
"Right, whatever, I'll join some club," Nobuyuki said. He finally rose, his consternation beating out his apathy.

"Make it two," the girl said after a short pause, "you need the extra help."


End file.
